Amy Totenberg

Amy Mil Totenberg (born December 29, 1950) is a United States district judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. She previously had been in private practice in Atlanta and also formerly served as a Special Master for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Early life and education

Born in New York, New York, she is the daughter of Melanie (Shroder) and Polish-born violinist Roman Totenberg. Totenberg earned an A.B., magna cum laude, in 1974 from Harvard-Radcliffe College and a law degree in 1977 from Harvard Law School.^[1]

Legal career

Upon graduating from Harvard-Radcliffe, Totenberg worked as a summer intern at the law firm of James M. Haviland in Charleston, West Virginia. In 1975 she was a legal assistant for Education/Instrucción in Roxbury, Massachusetts and held this position into 1977.^[2] After graduating from law school, she served as a partner for The Law Project in Atlanta from 1977 until 1982 and served as a sole legal practitioner in Atlanta from 1982 until 1994.

Between 1988 and 1993, Totenberg was a part-time for the city of Atlanta as a pro hac vice Municipal Court Judge.^[2]

From 1994 until 1998, Totenberg served as the first-ever general counsel for Atlanta's school system.^[1]

From 1998 until becoming a federal judge in 2011, Totenberg had served as a sole legal practitioner and arbitrator in Atlanta, working part-time as a special master and court monitor for several United States district courts.^[1] She also worked from 2004 until 2007 as an adjunct professor at the Emory University School of Law.^[2]

Federal judicial career

In February 2009, Totenberg submitted a resume and letter of interest for a United States district judgeship vacancy. After an interview by a committee appointed by the Georgia Democratic Congressional Delegation, Totenberg was among the applicants whose names were submitted to the White House.

On March 17, 2010, President Obama nominated Totenberg to fill the judicial vacancy on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia that had been created by the decision by Judge Jack Tarpley Camp Jr. to assume senior status at the end of 2008.^[1]

Totenberg was unanimously approved on December 1, 2010 by the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary with a voice vote.^[3][4]

Senators returned Totenberg's nomination to President Obama at the end of the 111th Congress and he resubmitted the nomination on January 5, 2011.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Totenberg in a voice vote on February 28, 2011. She received her commission March 1, 2011.^[5]

Personal

Totenberg's sister is Nina Totenberg, the American legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio.

In 2008, Totenberg contributed $1750 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

References

External links

• Amy Totenberg at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.